Hawk13

That sounds like our "cable" tv over here

dunroving

No, it's a license every household that owns a TV has to buy annually from the government and covers the cost of the BBC and infrastructure for "terrestrial" TV. In the old days that used to be just BBC 1 and 2, ITV and Channel 4 (via a rooftop aerial). These days it covers the cost of Freeview and/or Freesat. I get about 180 TV and radio channels via Freesat.

Commercial satellite (e.g. Sky) or cable (Virgin, etc.) costs extra. Even if you only use a commercial provider like Sky you still have to buy a TV license every year. Last year mine was £145 (maybe someone already said that ...)

Hawk13

That's more than enough TV channels for me. Do you get any HD channels without having to go satellite or cable?

dunroving

I get about 5 HD channels via Freesat (requires a dish, but most houses have them anyway and if not, the government subsidizes installation). I think Freeview also has some HD, but a lot depends on location (where I live, north of Glasgow, Freeview is rubbish - just a half-dozen channels or so).

I get frustrated when some events like international rugby (ALL of the autumn England games were on Sky only) are on commercial satellite, but not enough that I'd pay for it. I'm never short of something to watch.

The other great thing with Freesat is I get all the regional BBC1's and some regionals BBC 2's. And ITV London (I think). Great because when Scottish BBC and STV have their "Scottish" progarmming on, I can wtahc what is "supposed to be on" - so the latest drama instead of some naff Doogie McLoogie tribute show.

pomikev

Hawk13

Did the Skype interview yesterday with the guys in Aberdeen and it all seemed to go well but....

The salaries they are talking about for a Project Manager seem a tad low in the £40-50 range for what the job entails. The same type of job in Canada would start with 6 figures (CAD).

Are salaries really that low in the UK?

dunroving

A school teacher with several years experience can earn upwards of £40,000, as far as I know. Considering you are in the engineer-y trade, that seems low to me.

If it is helpful to compare to university salaries, visit jobs.ac.uk to look at various job ads there - they show salary ranges. A newly minted PhD would enter at the top of the Lecturer grade in most places, for example, most university "lecturers" would eventually rise to the top of S/L grade, and then the cream would continue to Reader or Principal Lecturer and then very few would go up to Professor (their salaries are sometimes plain silly, and there is no official salary grade for them so you won't typically see a salary range in Professorial job ads).

Hawk13

Thanks and I've tried figuring out salaries "on line" but engineering is always a funny one as the job descriptions are hard to pigeon hole. Still seems low by what I'm thinking and I have over 20 years experience.

Woodlea

When I left Aberdeen in 2006 I was self-employed on £41/hour as a project surveyor, the project managers were rumoured to be on around £50/hour so based on a 40 hour week your offer does seem a bit low, is it in the oil industry? It may be because it is a salaried position, ask them if you can go self-employed.
The environs of ABZ are wonderful, but the weather is awful, bloody awful, one of my main reasons for leaving there.

Hawk13

Thanks for the info.

The position isn't in the oil industry and is kind of hard to describe. I would be managing various types of projects, design, contracts, construction, etc. in Scotland, Europe and possibly South America for an engineering companies main client. It all sounds very interesting but the salary doesn't seem to match the job.

They did mention if I would prefer going self-employed but I've never gone that route before and would need to figure out what all is involved.

Weather - it's wet. I get that but I must be a little weird as I don't seem to mind the UK weather.

Hawk13

Well, it looks like I'll have to wait a bit before moving back - seems the position was more geared towards an intermediate type manager not a grey haired old fart like me and we couldn't get the numbers to work.

Appreciate everyone's input.

dunroving

I think these things happen for a reason.

I have had disappointments like this in the past and over time, it became clear that it was just as well. I'm sure at some point you wil look back and say "I'm glad that didn't work out".

Someone, somewhere wants a grey haired old fart.

Hawk13

Cheers